I recently wrote about statistics. They’re an important part of the educational picture. But not all of it. Teachers, administrators, school boards, the public also need to know what people think. For example, what do students who’ve been out a few years think about their past schooling? How well, or ill, did it prepare them for where they are now, in college, the military, employment or unemployment, whatever?

The majority of Telstar’s students go on to college, most of them sooner, not later. Preparing them to do well there is a big part of what schools do. We need to know when and how students first think about, and later decide to go to college; the earlier they do, the better. And the more they know about all kinds of colleges, the better. The better they understand their options the better their decisions.

Are our graduates ready for college? Were what they studied and how they studied useful, or have to be unlearned or re-learned? College is bound to be a shock, but how big a shock? Have we readied our graduates to face a new and bigger world? Can we do it better?

Young adults usually look forward. When they look back, what did they miss, either because it wasn’t there, or because they didn’t recognize its importance?

Here’s a draft of a questionnaire:

• When did you first think about going to college? What started you thinking about it?

• When did you decide to go? How did you decide where to go (rankings, price, facilities, recommendations…)?

• How did school help, hinder, and inform your thinking, while leaving the decision up to you?

• What did you take from school that helped you, or hindered you, in college?

• Subject matter?
• Learning skills?
• Living skills?
• Habits?
• Attitude?

With some adjustments, this questionnaire will also suit those graduates who chose some other path than college, or who’ve moved further on in their lives.

Are we doing the right things, the right way? We can’t be certain, but we can get a better idea.

David R Jones wishes he’d been asked these questions back in the day.